Monday, September 2, 2013

Starting Fresh

In just 3 days we will celebrate the start of a New Year with Rosh Hashana and the 1st of Tishrei, 5774. In the last few weeks and months I have been yearning to rekindle the desire to spend more time learning about the Hebrew roots of my faith, and what better way to start than through a New year's resolution to do so. This afternoon I came across a Torah Study that was most interesting and I wanted to save for future reference but was wondering where would be a 'safe place' that I could log this reference so it wouldn't lost in the clutter pile of digital safe places that I have setup over the years. Maybe someplace like a digital diary or journal would be nice so that as additional thoughts came out during the next year I could refer back chronologically. Plus writing things down tend to help things stick in the brain a little better. How about my blog? It is chronological and is so out of date I can't imagine anyone reads it anymore, so it is probably like a private diary, but even if someone does decide to read what I've written, its not like a secret or anything, and even better it promotes God and allows me to talk about my faith to the world. or at least whoever is listening.
So...the interesting article I read today came through my weekly e-mail from chabad.org and talks about why the common English words of repentence, prayer, and charity that are typically promoted as where we should focus ourselves during the ten days of Teshuvah are not the best translations from the Hebrew words teshuvah, tefillah and tzedakah. Rather the article sums up these words as: By returning to one's innermost self (teshuvah), by attaching oneself to G-d (tefillah) and by distributing one's possessions with righteousness (tzedakah), one turns the promise of Rosh Hashanah into the abundant fulfillment of Yom Kippur: A year of sweetness and plenty.
Here is a link to the article itself.
Torah Studies:The Ten Days of Teshuvah